Obama's new defence strategy to limit use of nuclear weapons

Washington, Apr 6(ANI): United States President Barack Obama is set to announce a new defence strategy that aims to revamp American nuclear strategy to substantially narrow the conditions under which the country would use its nuclear weapons.

However, Obama said he was carving out an exception for "outliers like Iran and North Korea", who have violated or renounced the main treaty to halt nuclear proliferation.

Discussing his approach to nuclear security the day before formally releasing his new strategy, known as the Nuclear Posture Review, Obama described his policy as part of a broader effort to edge the world toward making nuclear weapons obsolete, and to create incentives for countries to give up any nuclear ambitions.

His strategy is a sharp shift from those of his predecessors and seeks to revamp the nation's nuclear posture.

"I'm going to preserve all the tools that are necessary in order to make sure that the American people are safe and secure," The New York Times quoted Obama, as saying.

"We are going to want to make sure that we can continue to move towards less emphasis on nuclear weapons to make sure that our conventional weapons capability is an effective deterrent in all, but the most extreme circumstances," he added.

According to reports, the new strategy would include the option of reconsidering use of nuclear retaliation against a biological attack, if the development of such weapons reached a level that made the United States vulnerable to a devastating strike.

The release of the strategy comes ahead of a planned signing of a new nuclear arms reduction pact by Obama and his Russian counterpart, Dmitry Medvedev, in Prague on Thursday.

The pact, agreed last month, commits Russia and the US to big cuts in nuclear warheads.

The pact would replace the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (Start), which expired last December. (ANI)